I preface this all by solidly stating that I am NOT a Realtor.
Nor do I claim to be anywhere near an expert in the Real Estate field.
That being said, I have been working on homes in Southern New England since 1995 and have had experience dealing with, literally, thousands of folks who were in the process of selling their home.
Whether you are selling your home because you are interested in buying a much bigger property to call “home”, you are selling it to “down-size” a bit with life circumstances that may have shifted, or any possible reason in between, out of all the things I have observed people in these situations undertake, in order to aid in the process of selling their existing home, painting, by FAR, appears to be the most impactful.
It may sound crazy, but from what I have noticed, doing a major bathroom or kitchen remodel is typically not going to have as much of an effect on how fast your home is sold than painting.
Painting your home may or may not add a ton of actual value to the home, but it will certainly go a long way to help it sell as quickly as it possibly can.
Don’t get me wrong.
If your home is extraordinarily dated on the exterior with paint that has not been addressed in quite some time, which in turn has led to rotted wood in a number of places (…and perhaps even larger challenges!), then yes, painting very much could add to the overall amount you are able to sell your home for.
After all, if you were a homeowner looking to buy a home, what would you be willing to pay a bit more for in a market where the number of homes for sale in your area, is not really that high (such is the case in the Rhode Island real estate market at the time I am writing this), a home that has a solid paint job with a neutral color or a home that is going to need a ton of work from a painting standpoint alone prior to moving in?
I have had multiple conversations with bewildered individuals over the years whose homes had been on the market for quite some time, with grossly dated paint jobs (whether it was the interior or the exterior) and were trying to sell their home but could not figure out why nobody to date had given them a respectable offer on it.
There are absolutely a ton of reasons why homes in this particular type of situation may have been taking so long to sell.
However, ask any seasoned realtor, in general, what would be a more ideal situation to sell?
A home that looks like it was recently painted with a non-polarizing color or a home whose paint looks like it was barely holding on, faded, and/or with a color that would make even the most eccentrically-wired brain shudder in its place?
I think the answer is obvious.
We noticed this phenomenon a long time ago and we even went as far as to make our 5-year warranty transferable to whoever may be buying one of our Clients’ homes, with the intention of adding peace of mind to whomever the home was being sold to.
Life changes and selling your home can be a nerve-racking, stressful thing, why make it more difficult than it already may have to be?
Paint your home.
Have it be as presentable as possible to the market.
Although not a major renovation, painting is the one thing that can be done to help things move along more quickly for you, and perhaps even add some value to the overall sale of the home along the way.
-Tom
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